


From the lonely people that the world forgot

by ReverieRiver



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Dissociation, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, just an idea of how all that time in the umbra staff probably fucked lup up at least a little
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-28
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2019-01-25 19:02:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12538992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReverieRiver/pseuds/ReverieRiver
Summary: Sometimes, Lup forgets she's not in that umbrella anymore.





	From the lonely people that the world forgot

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from "Astronaut" by Simple Plan. It's a good Lupbrella song, you should give it a listen for extra feels c:

Lup is inside a black curtained room.

She’s been here before. Hasn’t she? No, she never really left. She remembers how she ended up here - that damned magic umbrella turned on her own magic lich form of its own will - but she doesn’t remember ever leaving this place. This same room, in which she has been trapped for more than a decade.

Everything of her consciousness is muted. Her senses are dulled, hearing and sight and feeling, and she can’t muster the energy to make herself aware of the outside world. She is detached, just barely aware of her own self. Nothing outside of this room feels real. No, scratch that, she doesn’t feel real, either.

She only thinks she has a body, sees her hands, sees her legs, her feet, sometimes her hair when it falls in her eyes. She thinks she feels solid ground beneath her, thinks she feels the stubborn dark fabric of the curtains when she tears at them in a fit of defiance. But really, what is she, but a soul trapped inside an enchanted umbrella? 

She’s not alive like this, not really. She is dead. She was killed by someone engulfed with the near irresistible desire to have the relic she meant to hide away. She sat slumped against the wall of the cave, silverpoint burning through her veins, until her spirit was freed of its physical form. She is dead, and trapped because her soul is tied to her magic.

There is sound somewhere from the outside. A voice, distant and muffled as it filters into this isolation chamber. She can't make out what it's saying, but even so she recognizes that it's familiar. Soon she realizes that of course it's familiar, she knows who this is. And she feels a twinge of emotion, because it's  _ him _ , it's Taako, her brother, her heart.

It hurts, because she knows that he doesn't remember that she exists, despite being by his side ever since she was found in that cave. But she clings to the feeling anyway, because feeling something is a whole lot better than this numbness that swallowed up her entire being. It makes her feel the slightest bit alive again, reminds her that if she could just get out of this place, there's a life out there for her (even if she is a lich, undead isn't entirely dead, at least).

She hears his voice again, louder, more insistent, and she thinks it sounds like he could be calling out to her. But that's impossible, of course, she figured out early on that he had forgotten her, her existence erased by the Voidfish. He can't be talking to her, because that would require him remembering despite the memory wipe, and that just isn't possible. But, maybe something happened while she wasn't aware? Maybe, just maybe, maybe he remembered and he finally knows her again and he can break her out of here, he has to know, he has to-

A hand on her shoulder startles her, and reflexively she turns to look. She is not met with more black curtains, but rather the concerned face of her brother. She blinks, mind reeling as it readjusts itself to reality. This is real,  _ this _ is  _ real _ , she is here and not there in the umbra staff and she is here with her twin. She is still numb and still distant, but she’s become aware of her heartbeat thrumming in her chest and it reminds her that she is here, alive and breathing and living, after her soul was finally returned to a real, physical body.

“You, uh, doing alright there, Lulu?” Taako asks.

Lup realizes that she has been staring at him like a stranger and glances away. When she looks at him again, she’s put on the best smile she can muster right now. “Yeah, just spaced out a little bit, my dude, no big deal.”

She knows she’s not convincing enough by the capital-L Look he’s still giving her. 

“I’ll say. You were zoning out so hard, I thought you’d astral projected the fuck out of this plane.”

Oh. 

“Yeah,  _ oh _ .” Oh. She’d said that out loud. “C’mon, talk to me, sis. What’s eatin’ ya?”

“I just-- For a minute there, I thought…” She trails off. It’s a simple thing, and yet it’s so difficult to put it into words. Taako looks at her expectantly, and she has to at least try to complete the thought. She heaves out a heavy sigh. “Thought I was in that stupid umbrella again.”

She looks at him, and she thinks she sees a flicker of understanding, something in his eyes that tells her he gets it as he assures, “Well, you’re definitely not, ‘cause I broke the goddamn thing, remember?”

“Yeah, I remember.” She does remember now, the umbra staff snapping in half, the surge of power as at last she had been untethered from her prison. How could she have forgotten? 

He withdraws his hand and without thinking, she grabs it with her own. She doesn’t want to let go. She needs something to keep her anchored here, or else she’s going to drift away again and she’s going to find herself in that room again, and that’s not something she thinks she can take right now. He understands what’s left unspoken, and gives her hand a gentle squeeze.

She doesn’t realize how much she had been craving sensation, to feel  _ something _ , until right now, and she pulls Taako into a hug. He wraps his arms around her, and she closes her eyes and focuses on nothing else but him for the moment. She is here, held close by her brother, and the world is setting itself right as she shakes off the last of that hazy feeling in her mind.

She is here, and she is living in this world, and everything is going to be alright.  


**Author's Note:**

> Whew. It's actually been a while since I've posted any fanfiction at all. This is just a small drabble really, but just about any feedback is appreciated!


End file.
